There it is the symbol of the New Year plunk in the center of the table.

A fish head.

Not a subtle message.

When we want something it begins in the head. Where our head is that’s where we are.

You see people walking around; their body might be there but their head’s far away.

Jews do this.

We may look like were davening but we’re thinking of chocolate cake. Or we may be eating chocolate cake but really thinking about G-d.

Whenever we lose things around the house and everyone starts looking under couches and pulling apart cabinets I say “Wait. Stop. And think. Use your head not your body.”

Alan (now Shlomo) Veingrad used to play in the NFL for the Green Bay Packers. Today he’s frum and speaks around the world. In one of his talks he shares how the main factor that affected his success was his coach’s advice. His coach reached out twisted a piece of material in the middle of Veingrad’s shirt and said “Focus here.”

Focus here.

It’s the beginning of the New Year. What is going to be my focus?

A few people have asked me over the past year or brought up the topic of “What am I supposed to be doing and who or what am I?”

But with all this talk about wanting to be something I believe we already know what we are.

We are Jews. So if this is what we are what’s the focus?

To be the best Jews we can be.

What does this entail? It’s about what I would like to work on and what I would like to change.

This year I want to paint the house because a bayit ne’eman brings shalom.

This year I’d like to take on making chicken soup for an elderly woman in the neighborhood.

This year I’d like to be in bed by10:30 p.m. and up by 6:00 a.m. and daven a full Shacharis every day.

This year I’d like to keep a journal to keep track of what I’m honestly doing and honestly not doing.

I spoke to someone the other day about keeping a journal. She said “But I don’t want pages full of things I don’t like about life or people. Because that’s what comes up when I write.”

And I heard because I used to stop myself from keeping journals because I didn’t want to look back and think That’s what you were thinking about.

“Okay” I said “so write all those things down just to clear them out of your head and get them off your chest so you can reach your heart.”

And I think about reaching and how Hashem doesn’t want it all in our heads but that the thoughts in our heads should reach into our hearts and actions.

The other day my daughter’s baby was on the carpet. He started to kvetch a bit so I put something shiny a few inches away from him. He looked at it and started to work really hard to get to it. And when he finally reached it he was so happy. And I thought That’s it. That’s the whole jig. Hashem puts things just a few inches ahead of us so we have to reach for them.

We need goals.

As babies the shiny colorful things pull us. And though we’re now grown basic nature doesn’t change. We still need to reach for things. We still need goals.

It all starts now in the head.